Paragon, an Israeli spyware company that claims to operate as an “ethical” surveillance vendor, faced scrutiny earlier this year when Italy was arrested using Paragon's tools to spy on the phones of two journalists. Paragon responded by separating Italy from its surveillance products, becoming the first spyware company to reveal one of its customers following product misuse.
Now, Paragon may face a new ethical dilemma. That's whether the ice agent can use that spyware.
The $2 million one-year contract Paragon signed with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September 2024 is still under review and has not yet been enforced, and Paragon has not previously provided ICE homeland security investigations with Spyware Tools.
Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has allowed ICE to carry out massive immigration raids across the United States, leading to the detention of thousands of immigrants and numerous U.S. citizens, partly thanks to data stored in federal databases and technology provided by Govtech Giant Palantir. Considering ICE, spyware could serve as a powerful surveillance tool in the Trump administration's immigration enforcement business, as it is poised to win significantly larger budgets after Trump's flagship Big Beautiful Bill Act passes the law.
Paragon cannot supply spyware to the ice, as there are two months left before the contract expires. However, until the contract was out of business on September 29th, the US government could always approve it, and forced Paragon to make a decision about the use of the tool in US soil.
Currently, the company does not want to talk about this dilemma at all. When asked by TechCrunch, Paragon does not state what he plans to do if the contract passes the review, nor does it clarify what will happen in relation to ICE if the contract moves forward.
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Paragon's contract with ICE has been suspended once the documents are signed. Homeland Security has issued near-disabled stop orders with the goal of considering whether the contract complies with Biden-era executive orders. The order limits US government agencies from using commercial spyware that can be abused by foreign governments and violate human rights (or abused) or target Americans abroad.
At the time, Biden administration officials told Wired that the US government “quickly engaged” in homeland security, which houses ICE, determining whether the contract met the requirements of the executive order.
Nine months later, Paragon's contract with Ice remained in scope, with Trump White House officials not having any updates on their status.
Trump administration spokesman Abigail Jackson introduced TechCrunch questions to Homeland Security, and when asked, he refused to comment on his position on Biden-era spyware executive orders.
A spokesman for Homeland Security and ICE did not provide a comment when contacted by TechCrunch.
Spyware companies have often been historically silent to name their customers in all circumstances, fearing that they would risk reputational damage or favorable government contracts. The company tried to distance itself from the hack after WhatsApp revealed earlier this year that around 90 users, including journalists and human rights opponents, were targeting Paragon's Spyware. Paragon Executive Secretary John Fleming told TechCrunch that it only sells “mainly to the US and its allies, a choice group of global democratic groups.”
In other words, Paragon wants the world to know that it will sell to responsible government customers, and its response to the Italian scandal appears to reinforce the company's position.
But when it calls itself an ethical spyware vendor, Paragon holds itself responsible and determines who it deals with. In doing so, the company also opened the door for others to scrutinise government customers and their ethics – whether they are the Italian government or the ice. As governments and their leaders change over time, Paragon may face the choice that they need to reassess who it works for.
“Given the record of the attacks on this administration's human rights and civil society organizations, I hope Paragon will rethink the agreement,” said Michael De Dora, US advocacy manager at Access Now, who has worked to expose Spyware's abuses.